Thank you, jcwilliams, you have hit the nail on the head.
For a long time I have been led to believe that I've not been attentive enough. Any thoughts on how I can put it to the wife that she's been verbalizing only a portion of her entire thought process to me all these years - with out this leading to a misunderstanding?
This is how some of my conversations go with my wife. She will be thinking something and only verbalize a portion of the entire thought. It sometimes goes like this:
Me: I have to take the car in for servicing. Do you need the car tomorrow morning?
Her: (silence) I think that Bill and Terri are coming over.